Worlds Collide
The Land of Stories: 'Worlds Collide' is the sixth and final children's fiction novel in The Land of Stories series written by Chris Colfer. The book was published July 11th, 2017 by Little, Brown and Company (a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.), New York. In an interview at EW Popfest in October 2016, Chris Colfer revealed the book's (working) title and said that it will be the final book in the series.http://chriscolfernews.co/post/152534541968/chris-colfer-previews-stranger-than-fanfiction Publisher's Summary & Jacket Interior Summary Now they must brave the impossible... Alex and Conner's biggest fear has come true. The land of Stories fairy-tale characters - both heroes and villains- are no longer confined to their world! With sinister lans being put into motion by Morina, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook and the rest of their evil literary army, Conner doesn't think the situation can get any worse. That is, until Alex goes missing! While mayhem brews in the Big Apple, Conner and his friends will have to fight their biggest battle yet. But without Alex by his side, Conner doesn't know how he will win the war and keep everyone he loves safe. Can Conner find Alex before it's too late? And can the twins restore order between the human and fairy-tale worlds? Embark on this final thrilling adventure with Alex, Conner and the rest of the gang - a breathtaking, bittersweet conclusion to the beloved #1 bestselling Land of Stories series. Dedications, Literary Quotes & Acknowledgements Dedication: To Rob, Alla, and Alvina. The Land of Stories would never have happened without your guidance, passion, and grammar lessons. And to readers across the world. I'll cherish the adventures we've shared for the rest of my life. Thanks for being my happily ever after. Let's never grow up together. Epigraph: "If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -Orson Welles Acknowledgements: I'd like to thank Rob Weisbach, Alla Plotkin, Alvina Ling, Heather Manutoo, Derek Kroeger, Rachel Karten, Lindsey Tillotson, Eugene Shevertalov, Marcus Colen, and my wonderful team at ICM. The land of Stories series would not have been possible without Megan Tingley, Melanie Chang, Andrew Smith, Nikki Garcia, Jessica Shoffel, Carol Scatorchio, Jackie Engel, Kristin Dulaney, Svetlana Keselman, Emilie Polster, Janelle DeLuise, Bethany Strout, Jen Graham, Sasha Illingworth, Virginia Lawther, and everyone at Little, Brown. Thanks to Jerry Maybrook for surviving over a dozen audiobooks with me, and to the incredible Brandon Doorman for bringing my words to life. Last but not least, thank you to Will Sherrod, Ashley Fink, and Pam Jackson, and of course my family. Your love and patience has made this adventure possible. Main Plot SPOILER WARNING: Plot details follow. ''' Plot by Chapter Prologue: A Birthday Celebration In a flash-forward to the future, a bookstore, Bookworm Paradise, is celebrating the eightieth birthday of famous author Conner Bailey, well-known writer of over a hundred children's books. It is revealed that Conner's wife, Bree Campbell, had passed away earlier that year, and Conner and Bree's children and grandchildren are introduced. A question and answer session starts. Conner is asked what inspired him to write his most famous work, the Fairytaletopia series. He replies that it was autobiographical. The crowd believes that he is joking, but Conner knows that it is true, as the Fairytaletopia series is based on his and Alex's adventures in the Land of Stories. When a fan asks what happened to his sister Alex, Conner fails to remember, and looks to his own chronicles of their Land of Stories adventures for clues. 1. Distress Call From The Public Library Alex appears in the New York Public Library and begs security to contact her brother, because she is cursed by a witch who makes her do bad things. The security guard thinks she has lost her mind. The curse takes control over Alex and the security guard calls the police. Alex awakens the library's lion statues with her magic. 2. Accidental Yet Unexplainable An entire bathroom in Willowcrests' children's hospital has disappeared and Alex with it. Conner and Bree discuss what might have happened. Their friends looked for her in the fairy-tale world as well, and come to the conclusion Alex may have been kidnapped. After brainstorming who it might have been they realize the witches may have her. As they start planning their attack on the Literary Army, Bob and Charlotte join them with news about the New York Library, where a bathroom inexplicably appeared from thin air... 3. The Frog In The Mirror Still trapped in the magic mirror, Froggy is frustrated and afraid he might be losing his identity because of the spell he is under. He discovers that his mirror has a twin in a room of the Northern Palace - and many more. By looking through the other mirrors, he finds out about the fairy-tale world's current rulers. They are dissatisfied with Morina's absence and impatient to attack the Otherworld. When they leave the room, Froggy discovers Tinker Bell trapped in a jar and she fills him in on the situation. 4. A Subconscious Surprise Arthur meets Alex in his dreams. She tells him about her curse and to contact her brother, even if killing her is the only way to end the curse. When he wakes up, he tells Merlin and Mother Goose about it, but they think it was just a dream. Arthur hurries to the Sword in the Stone and tries to retrieve it. It worked surprisingly! 5. Turbulence Ahead Conner, Bree, Red, Goldilocks and Jack (and their son Hero) travel to New York. They manage to get through security and board the plane. Conner falls asleep and sees Alex in his dream, but doesn't understand what she's trying to tell him. Bree finally tells him about the Sisters Grimm and the upcoming Portal in New York City. 6. Prisoners Of The Mirror Froggy finds a girl trapped in the mirror world too. She explains how he can travel between mirrors, and agrees to help him warn his friends about the invasion of the Otherworld. When Froggy wants to introduce himself to her, he has forgotten his name. 7. Pizza Bagels And Barricades The Bookhuggers and their parents are in New York City. Cindy, Mindy, Lindy and Wendy's parents took them on a trip to distract them from their "obession" with the Bailey twins. The Bookhuggers spot Conner in a taxi and are reaffirmed in their conspiracy theories. A homeless man tells Conner and his friends what he saw at the library. They hurry there, but police won't let them through. The military arrives and plans to shoot the enchanted lions. Conner and his friends prepare to sneak into the library; the homeless man offers to help them. 8. The Calvin Coolidge Express Rusty, the homeless man, leads them to an abandoned subway tunnel that can take them to the library. He tells them how he lost his job after seeing a magical portal appear and his employer thought he was lying. Rusty introduces them to his friends, some of whom have seen the portal too. The places and intervals at which the portal has appeared makes them figure out that the next time the portal will open in the library. 9. The Scariest Villain Of Them All Conner and his friends reach the library and find Alex; unconscious. Morina appears and traps Conner and his friends in the library. She reveals her evil plan: to destroy the witches and let the Literary Army and the Otherworld armies destroy each other, after which she'd take over. The portal opens and the witches arrive. 10. The Witches Arrive The witches realize they've been played and move into Central Park to regroup and make plans. General Wilson, in command of the troops surrounding the library, proclaims it is time to contact Cornelia Grimm. 11. A Mirrored Escape Froggy is having more and more difficulties remembering who he is and what his friends are called. By giving a woman much-needed advice, Froggy's friend breaks the spell put on her and she escapes the mirror. Suddenly she remembers who she is: Evly. Aka: The Evil Queen. She feels great regret for what she has done, but accepts the second chance she's been given. Froggy no longer remembers his friends. 12. The Unexpected Rescuers The Bookhuggers appear in the library. They promise to help Conner, but not until he finally explains about himself and his sister. Once Conner and his friends are free, they see the force field erected around Central Park by Alex and the witches. Conner suddenly remembers a boy on the plane told him a large group of girl- and boy scouts would be camping in the park. They realize they have to get inside to save them from the witches. 13. Something's Cooking Conner and his friends find a way into the park and meet some New Yorkers who are trapped inside the force field, hiding from the witches. They say several others were already captured. The friends discover that the force field makes time move slower inside the park than outside in New York. Rat Mary and Serpentina appear and take everyone prisoner. The witches are baking a gingerbread army. Conner tries to make a run for Alex but fails. Alex, however, has momentarily awoken from the curse and has recognized him. 14. The Cursed And The Courteous In the Dwarf Forests, a creature wanders into Morina's mansion; Medusa, whose look turns everyone who sees it to stone. She drinks a potion, which changes her eyes back to normal. She sees Froggy in the mirror. She tells him she was captured by the Literary Army and used as a weapon against her will. After figuring out that Morina's potions are the stolen essences of the captured children, Froggy suggests that Medusa return them to their rightful owners. She does so, and Froggy is freed from the mirror. Because he peformed a good deed.He suddenly remembers everything. Medusa gives him a bottle of her tears, as it might help the people she turned to stone. In return, Froggy offers her his old home to hide in for when her eyes return to their cursed state. 15. Backup Bob and Charlotte are waiting for news of Conner and trying to keep his characters under control. The Bookhuggers call them on the phone to explain what happened. They all head to New York in their various space- and aircrafts. In the Dwarf Forests, the Literary Army is impatient to begin their invasion of the Otherworld, causing Morina to have to change her plans. 16. The Tears Of Medusa The tears work and the royal families and other refugees are able to move again. Froggy learns what has happened while he was inside the mirror, and makes up his mind to go warn the twins in the Otherworld. Rook joins him. They go to the Fairy Palace to wake up the Fairy Council first, and meet Merlin, Mother Goose, Arthur and several young knights there. Arthur managed to pull the sword from the stone. The council is awakened. When Auther meets Rook in this chapter they have an argument about who likes Alex more. 17. Worlds Collide Conner's characters arrive in New York. Froggy and the others join them. King Arthur takes the lead, but needs to know how to defeat the literary emperors. Charlotte has the idea to write a short story featuring the original authors so they can ask them about the villains' weaknesses. 18. Fairies VS. Witches Conner dreams about his old house and finds a message from Alex there, asking him to kill her. When he wakes, the gingerbread men army is about to devour the scouts. Conner tries to get through to Alex, and for a moment succeeds. The force field is down long enough for Arthur and his army to enter the park. The fairies fight the witches while the others deal with the gingerbread men. The Snow Queen and the Sea Witch are killed, but the last of the witches tell Alex to lower the force field and they escape, taking Hero with them. His parents follow on Lester. With the force field down, an Otherworld sniper get a shot at Alex, but shoots Rook instead because he was ashamed of what he had done and wanted to do something for her. Seeing her friend killed makes Alex' rage spiral out of control and she vanishes with the lion statues. 19. War Of The Worlds The literary army fights and captures the Otherworld soldiers. Then the literary heroes and Conner's characters arrive to fight back. Captain Hook tries to kill Tinker Bell, but she is saved by Mad Moth, the Blissworm's new form. Hook is killed. The Ziblings fight the flying monkeys. The Lost Boys destroy the Wicked Witch of the West with water balloons. Together with Trollbella, the Tin Woodman defeats the Queen of Hearts. The Cyborgs defeat the Playing Card Army. Jack and Goldie retrieve their son from Rat Mary, and Rat Mary is killed. 20. Times Square Square-Off The Fairy Council finds Alex and Emerelda tries to reason with Alex. Morina appears and commands Alex to destroy everyone and everything. Morina herself wants to kill Froggy. Red steps up and taunts her until Morina fires magic at her, then reflectd it with a mirror, killing Morina with her own magic. Red and Froggy quickly get married before anything can tear them apart again. 21. A Brother's Burden After finding out how the Literary Army and the emperors were defeated, Conner has an idea to save his sister. They meet General Wilson, who informs them that New York City will be destroyed by nuclear weapons in an hour. Cornelia Grimm is with him, furious that he woudn't listen to her when she told him about the portal. Apparently, they used to be together and Cornelia had already told him about the portal years ago. The Mad Moth destroys the lion statues. Conner's plan is to read his sister a story about herself. With the help of his friends, he manages to get close enough to her she can take her into his story with the Portal Potion. 22. A Speculation Story The story shows Alex an alternative universe in which her father is still alive. He tells Alex the real meaning of Happily Ever After. Their visit in the story breaks the curse on Alex. 23. A Presidential Surprise The president of the US wakes up and thinks the whole adventure was just a dream. She and everyone else have been in a magical sleep while Alex, Conner and the others restored the wreckage in the city. Alex and Conner tell her the truth, because they need her help. She has to help the Sisters Grimm find the escaped witches. The bridge between the two worlds has been confined in a book, and they entrust the book to the president. 24. Happily Ever After, After All The twins restore the Land of Stories as well. The literary characters return to their books, including Arthur, though he'd rather stay with Alex. Mother Goose goes with Merlin. The Tin Woodman stays with Trollbella and the Lost Boys stay with Red. Epilogue - Do You Believe In Magic? Back in the future, Charlie, the granddaughter of Conner, overhears her family, who are afraid Conner is suffering from dementia. They want to put him in a home. She goes to tell him, and Conner reassures her that he's about to go visit Alex. Alex appears by magic and takes him to the Land of Stories. Charlie finds the Land of Stories book in her grandfather's attic. It humms and glows... Reception '''Praise for the Land of Stories Series: "It will hit big with its combination of earnestness and playful poise." ''(The New York Times Book Review). ''"It's hard not to love book...Colfer gets off many good lines and the nifty ending ties the plot's multiple strands up while leaving room for further fairy tale adventures." (Publishers Weekly). "A magical debut." (Family Circle). "Captivating." (Teen Vogue). "In The Land of Stories, Colfer showcases his talent for crafting fancifully imaginative plots and multidimensional characters." (Los Angeles Times). "There's more in Colfer's magic kingdoms than Disney has dreamt of." (USA Today). Editions Gallery Morina.png 516A57AD-002C-442D-851A-163BC72DD745.jpeg 4A8E94A3-29A9-4C69-8448-69511987C670.png 11226AB5-8CA8-4D9D-98D8-7CD2EB48B170.jpeg C135043B-1D5C-4BBE-A4C1-C408D82BBD1A.jpeg References Category:Books Category:Land of Stories Series Books Category:Chris Colfer Books